[David]

Originally Posted by jmn3

I don't know Steve...while I was too young in 1987 to remember how it played out, it's my opinion that they are doing exactly the same thing.

I wasn't too young in '87 to remember, and the band is doing exactly the same thing. Steve is playing contrarian devil's advocate once again. I don't know why he does that, but it generally results in a very knowledgeable guy distending and distorting data into all manner of unreasonable and daffy conclusions.

Originally Posted by jmn3

Sure they aren't dressing anyone up like Lindsey

That didn't happen to Billy or Rick, either. Steve is full of it. On the 1987 and 1990 tours, Billy was Billy and Rick was Rick. Nobody "played" Lindsey. Unfortunately for the band's music, nobody played the idiosyncratic (and syncretistic) studio visionary experimenting with instrumentation and vocals and concocting elaborate arrangements (the Brian Wilsonish musical equivalent of "personal filmmaking") to "shake people's preconceptions about pop." This idea of dressing people up is really beneath Steve's intelligence.

Originally Posted by jmn3

They're continuing to rest on their 1975-87 work under the guise of exploring their 50-year history or whatever crap they're spewing.

Of course. We all know it; we all see it. Even the people arguing otherwise (including the band themselves) know it in their hearts. Every configuration of the band since 1987 has been profoundly unwilling or unable to even partially shake off the Rumours band and its effect on the culture. Adding a pre-Rumours song here or a Split Enz song there (or a Delaney and Bonnie song or a Dylan song or a Sons of the Pioneers song) doesn't change that fact. It's just swapping out some seasoning in the same basic dish.

Originally Posted by jmn3

Campbell gets to recreate Lindsey's solos on GYOW, The Chain, Gypsy, etc. The arrangements of all of the songs are essentially the same as they were on the last tour.

Precisely. None of that material has been reimagined as anything other than a faithful duplication of the old albums. Even the general progression of the traditional set is kept (The Chain and Dreams early on, acoustic songs halfway through, and Go Your Own Way and Don't Stop as closers).

If the band wants the big money, it needs to do this. I would never blame the band for doing this, but I certainly won't pretend that something else is happening musically.